Five More Minutes
by MegMarch1880
Summary: We all wish that time could slow down, that we could just spend five more minutes in a forever moment. A reflection from characters who want just five more minutes with someone.
1. Hunger Games

**A/N: This story was inspired by the song Five more Minutes by Scotty McCreary. The last minute was inspired by Toby Keith's song I Didn't Know Now. More thoughts at the bottom.**

* * *

 **Hunger Games**

 **1**

Peeta had had a crush Katniss for a year or two now. It was almost time for summer break and Peeta was sketching Katniss in the corner of his notes once again. The bell rang announcing that school was out for the summer. Peeta sighed, he just needed five more minutes to get the sketch perfect. Just five more minutes.

* * *

 **2**

Mrs. Everdeen felt like she was drowning. At least that's what her remedy book called it. District 12 did not exactly have many drownings. But she was lost. Her best friend, her partner was gone. The mine had exploded killing her husband and she knew intimately well exactly how he would have felt depending on the severity of his injuries. Her mind kept running through the possibilities of what he may have gone through. Did he linger or was he gone in a flash?She wanted five more minutes with him. She knew that she should be focusing on the girls. But she couldn't. She would wallow for a little bit longer imaging time with her husband, just five more minutes.

* * *

 **3**

Prim was so excited about getting to see the cakes. They were always decorated so pretty. There always seemed to be at least one with some primroses on it. Katniss almost seemed relaxed watching her ooh and ah over the cakes so Prim would always beg her to go. There wasn't much she could do to help her big sister, not that Katniss would let her but she could do this. Besides Peeta Mellark always seemed happy to see them viewing the cakes so Prim would always try to convince to go when Peeta was working. Katniss would look so at peace in those moments. Prim heard Katniss tell her it was time to go, "Katniss please, five more minutes?" Prim pleaded with her.

* * *

 **4**

She had left for the Games and had won. But she had saved Bread Boy too. It was this love story that Gale did not want to believe. There was no way she was in love with him. Gale refrained from punching a nearby tree, but it looked so real. She had kissed Peeta, not once but multiple times! She had been sweet and flirty with him. She had treated him like she did Gale but better. She had protected him and risked her life for him. She couldn't be faking but she had to be! He had been working on wooing her for so long! He wanted her back and she was technically back. But not his Katniss. His Katniss wasn't whatever she was with Peeta. His Katniss agreed with him on President Snow. His Katniss…seemed to be disappearing before his very eyes. And he just wanted, no he needed just five more minutes with his Katniss. Where the world was tough, but he had his partner by his side. Where he wasn't alone against the world again. Where he didn't have to share her with him. He just wanted five more minutes with her, was that too much to ask for?

* * *

 **5**

He wanted five more minutes. Just five more minutes, where she seemed like she was in love with him. Sure it was an act. But he had been so happy, oblivious. Her and Haymitch had played him as a fool it was true. And yet he wished that he didn't know now, what he didn't know then. Her loving him was a dream come true. But the dream was broken now. Not truly shattered, after all, she had done it to save his life. She had cared enough to save his life and he was clinging to that fact. However, the fact remained he did not appreciate being lied to. And yes, he knew there was no logical time to have told him all of this. But since that was the case why did they tell him at all? He had been so much happier oblivious. And yes, he did remember slightly in the back of his head, that it would have hurt worse finding out even later. But he didn't want to be logical right now! He just wanted five more minutes with her that didn't feel fake. Five more minutes to be crazy in love with her and be loved in return. He just wanted five more minutes.

* * *

 **A/N: The value of five more minutes and how much we always want to take back time for five more minutes of a favorite memory or time with a precious loved one, it's a powerful thought. I love that thought because I understand it so well. There are people I would love five more minutes with. But I know that's not how things work. I'd want more than five minutes and they are in a much better place now even if I miss them.**


	2. Catching Fire

**A/N: This story was inspired by the song Five more Minutes by Scotty McCreary.**

* * *

 **Catching Fire**

 **1**

She wanted five more minutes with her victors. Just five more minutes. Sure they brought her fame and attention. Sure Katniss could be a bit rude at the time. Peeta was incredibly thoughtful though. But they were her proof that she was successful. They might be messed up physically or mentally but they were her victors. They were her victors in a way that the victors that she had donated money to weren't. They were hers and President Snow had taken that away from her. They were hers…and Haymitch's she supposed but they weren't President Snows no matter what he thought. They were her victors and she just wanted five more minutes with them.

* * *

 **2**

Five more minutes, if the guards would just wait five more minutes, then Katniss would be up to the tube to the arena and would never see what had happened to him. It would be for the best Cinna thought then for her to see him taken away. He had just needed five more minutes for her to go up the tube and focus on herself and Peeta. She didn't need to be worried about him and his channeling emotions into his work. He had just needed five more minutes but the President took that away from him.

* * *

 **3**

She had never thought that Katniss would be taken back into the arena. But President Snow had pulled her back in. Katniss was the only victor she had to go back in. But at least Prim had thought that she would get time to say goodbye. But they hadn't let her. They had taken her away from Prim. She had wanted five more minutes with her big sister. Instead, she got to see her acting on TV. She got to here Peeta announces Katniss was pregnant, not that Prim believed that for a second. She saw Katniss's pain when Peeta died for those two minutes and realized that Katniss was never coming home in the same way again. She saw Katniss yelling for her in the arena and saw the love her sister had for her. But even knowing how much her sister loved her, she knew Katniss wouldn't come back without Peeta. She wanted five more minutes with the Katniss before the games or even the Katniss after the first games. She just wanted five more minutes with her big sister.

* * *

 **4**

His partner in crime was gone. The person who understood him like no other. The person who he had understood unlike anyone else. His conscious, his reminder of his humanity was gone. Wiress had been killed and he had been too busy being unconscious to help her. If he hadn't gotten hurt getting the wire. If he had let someone else get it instead. Why had he insisted that he had had to get the wire? If he had let Johanna get it then Wiress might still be alive. He had wanted to breakout to help save her but she was gone now. He just wanted five more minutes with Wiress. Was that too much to ask for?

* * *

 **5**

She had been there with him through thick and thin. She had been understanding when he had felt defeated. She had helped survive the Games. She had helped him survive the Capital. She was his mother figure, his confidant, his mentor. She had defended him as best she could and he did the same for her. He interpreted for her and stuck by her side. People thought he would abandon her but that showed how little they knew him, he would abandon anyone other than Annie then to let Mags die. But Mags had known that. She knew how strong his personal loyalty was. So she took the choice away from him and walked into the fog. The only person he truly had left was Annie now. There was still Johana and Haymitch who mostly understood. And Peeta and Katniss probably understood loving someone damaged by the games better than most people. But Mags had stayed with him through his games, through his nightmares, and through the nightmarish events after the games. His mentor was gone and he didn't know how to handle things. He just wanted a little bit longer with her, just five more minutes, please? He just wanted her to stay not to go. It had pulled her through the stroke, why couldn't it pull her through here? He just wanted to freeze times with her. Can't you just give me five more minutes?


	3. Mockingjay

**A/N: This story was inspired by the song Five More Minutes by Scotty McCreary**

* * *

 **Mockingjay**

 **1**

He couldn't believe that he was thinking this if asked he would deny it. But he missed having the cheerful kid around. I mean yeah, the kid was right, Katniss was his favorite. But that was because she was so much like him it was scary. But Peeta is-no was a much better person than him. Not that you could tell at the moment. Haymitch had only tried to kill the kids by accident if they woke him from a nightmare or flashback. Peeta had actually tried to kill Katniss. So he had a broken silver-tongued Lover Boy and a very depressed Mockingjay. Yet he had no idea what to do. He was a washed up "Victor" who had power because he was able to kill people, had successfully avoided death, and had upset the President enough that all of his loved ones were killed off. Somehow though he was supposed to be protecting these kids from two separate Presidents. He was so under-qualified for this job it wasn't even funny. Peeta, on the other hand, would be great at this job. At least the old Peeta would've been and the fact that a teenager would be better at what he was trying to than him was very sad to him. The fact that the other teenager was the head of the rebellion made him question a lot of his life choices. So yeah, he wished he could have the kid back for five minutes. But just to use that silver tongue and push happy Peeta Katniss's way! It's not like he actually liked the kid! While the back of his brain started assembling evidence that this was not actually the case. The rest of Haymitch's brain just wished for five more minutes.

* * *

 **2**

She knew the others thought she was strange. They didn't understand her like Mags had like Finnick had. Peeta understood still, Johanna, and Katniss they understood what it was like. Haymitch was even less comforting then Johanna but he understood too. The Games changed people, you never left whole, the question is what you left behind. Finnick had made her feel that she hadn't left anything behind, that she was just Annie once again. He had loved her, adored her. This gorgeous, handsome, kind, loving, sweet man could have had anyone in the world and he chose her! But he was gone now and Mrs. Everdeen wouldn't let her sink into despair, she insisted that it wasn't good for the baby. Johanna called to check on little Finnick along with Peeta calling as well. He always told her that Katniss had asked about her, Annie wasn't crazy enough to believe that. But she knew Katniss had her own crosses to carry. But while the other victors helped and were comforting at times. She wanted Finnick. Even just five more minutes with him. Was that really impossible?

* * *

 **3**

She wanted her daughter back…daughters back. She had lost Prim in the Capital. She could never decide if she had lost Katniss at that point too or Katniss had been long gone before then. She missed her little girls. But they had not been little girls for a long time a voice that sounded quite similar to Katniss chimed in. She winced. Katniss might better understand what she had gone through now than ever before but she had never wished that for her daughter. She would've rather had her daughter hate her forever than to go through what she had so that she had a slight understanding of her. But even in that Katniss had been stronger than her. If you gave Katniss a job even with Peeta gone, Katniss would try. She might not succeed very well but Katniss would try. Mrs. Everdeen wasn't sure she could even claim to try. She wanted five more minutes with her beautiful daughters, just five more minutes.

* * *

 **4**

He wanted five more minutes with her. At this point, he didn't even care if it was pre-Games Katniss, post-1st Games Katniss, or post-2nd Games Katniss. He just wanted to be able to spend time with her again. He missed her so much. She was like the other half of him, but she didn't want to see him ever again. She blamed him, for her sister's death. The one thing he had had going for him in her book was that he had protected her family and now he had failed even with that one simple task. He had said at one point to Peeta she would choose the one she couldn't survive without. He had forgotten the fact that part of that meant who could help protect her people when she couldn't. Peeta had helped protect her, helped feed Prim, and helped comfort those Katniss cared about although he had tried to kill her. But he was sure in Katniss's mind Lover Boy had been excused since she didn't feel "needed" at that point. But Gale, he had never done evidently enough in protecting and helping her family. Sure he had gotten them out of the District when it got bombed but then bombs were dropped that seemed to be of his design on Prim. While when Katniss had asked they had not been sure who had dropped the bombs, it had later been proven that it had not been Gale's design. It had been a rebel pilot and engineer from District 2. He was innocent not that Katniss would ever listen to him now. She had Peeta and seemed perfectly content for him to remain out of her life forever. The one time he had tried to call, Peeta had answered. When Gale tried to explain, Peeta had told him that if he wanted to discuss this now wasn't the time, and it had to be in person. Gale had given up after that, clearly Peeta would interfere. And sure he sounded like a bitter person, but how could you not be? His entire life had messed up because of not being five minutes sooner. If he had been maybe Katniss would be married to him now. Maybe, possibly, what if. The end result is either way that he wanted five more minutes with her to explain, to apologize, to make her understand, and then maybe she'd ask him to stay longer than five minutes.

* * *

 **5**

Katniss knew that it wouldn't happen. But she still wanted it, just five more minutes with him. She had thought this so many times throughout her life, when she thought he had died in the cave, when the nightmares got bad but he couldn't be with her, when he had died in the Quarter Quell for a minute, when he was taken from her after the Quell, when he had been hijacked, when he said that she should leave him behind, when he hadn't come back to District 12 with her, and many more moments. She had never done too well without him since the 74th Games. She had never stopped needing him, from the Games, through the Revolution, through two pregnancies, two marriages, and grandkids. She had always needed him by her side. They had a lifetime of moments that she wanted to live in forever now. Though the sunset before the 75th would always remain a favorite for it being the first moment that she had never wanted to end. The Capital had always said their love story had been like a fairy tale, and Katniss might even agree if only in her head that after they had healed some their life had truly been one. But he was gone now. He had promised to stay with her always and he had tried. Oh how he had tried. He knew how hard things would be for her, the nightmares, the flashbacks. But death cannot be stopped merely delayed for a while. He was gone and she just wanted five more minutes. Five more minutes with her Boy with the Bread, with her dandelion in the spring. He had been in her life for so long, she wasn't sure how to live life without him. She wanted five more minutes with him, five more minutes and forever.


End file.
